Salm (Ardennes)

Who he is

Name

not pinned: a count of the Vianden-born line that holds Lower Salm since the division of 1163

Title

Count of Salm (in the Ardennes)

Since

the line holds from 1163

Family

In 1163 Count Henry I of Salm divided the county: the Ardennes lands went to his daughter Elisabeth and her husband Count Frederick II of Vianden, whose descendants are the counts of Lower Salm (the line ends in 1416); the Vosges lands (Upper Salm) went to Henry II.

Confidence

low

de.wikipedia, Salm (Adelsgeschlecht) and Grafschaft Vianden

Overlord

not pinned (later a fief of Luxembourg)

What it holds

• The castle of Salm (Salmchâteau) and the county on the Salm round Vielsalm
• Rights in the Ardennes forest between Stavelot and Houffalize (extent not pinned)

How it was acquired

By the marriage of Frederick II of Vianden and Elisabeth of Salm and the division of 1163.

Allies and rivals

Kin of the counts of Vianden and of Abbot Gerhard of Prüm and Stavelot; neighbours of the abbey of Stavelot and of the count of Luxembourg's Ardennes lands.

How things stand that morning

Held by the Vianden-born counts of Salm. Their side in the throne war is not recorded.

Wealth

Forest, pasture and the Ardennes road; no figures.

Military

The castle of Salm; no numbers.

Threats

• Luxembourg's overlordship over the Ardennes counts
• The abbey of Stavelot's claims in the same forest

Places of note

• Salm castle (Salmchâteau): seat of the county of Salm in the Ardennes

Where the sources disagree

• The de.wikipedia article on the Salm also says the northern possessions passed by an heiress to a Sponheim line still in the 12th century; it does not reconcile this with the Vianden account, so the holder in 1200 stays not pinned.

Evidence: The division of 1163 and the Vianden descent are documented; the count in 1200 and the county's bounds are not.

On the map: The modern commune only; the county's 1200 bounds are not pinned.

Primary sources for Empire

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Marbach (compiled to 1238, the section on 1198 to 1210 written in the early 13th century). Alsatian annals on the Staufen side of the Upper Rhine. Read online
• Annals of Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
• Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
• Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
• Chronicle of Reinhardsbrunn; Chronicle of St Peter's, Erfurt (Erfurt chronicle in the 13th century; Reinhardsbrunn compilation about 1340 to 1349 from older annals). The two Thuringian chronicles. Read online
• Chronicle of the Slavs, by Arnold of Lübeck, Arnold of Lübeck (about 1209 to 1210). Arnold continues Helmold and writes from Lübeck, close to Danish, Welf and Baltic affairs. Read online
• Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online
• Chronicle of Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online

8 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.